Penguins Post-Mortem: Experts Weigh In On Team's Elimination

PITTSBURGH, PA - You woke up this morning and realized it wasn’t a bad dream. The Washington Capitals eliminated the Penguins from the NHL Playoffs Tuesday with a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime win.

For the first time since 2015, there will be no Stanley Cup championship parade in Pittsburgh this year.

That the team that had won consecutive Stanley Cups didn’t even make it to the conference finals is disheartening for players and fans. But considering the Pens’ well-documented dominance of Washington in the playoffs over the years, perhaps it was just the Capitals turn to win a series against the Pens.

Here’s what hockey writers are saying about the outcome:

• Scott Allen, The Washington Post: “The Capitals vanquished their postseason arch-nemesis, eliminated their second-round roadblock and ended a 20-year drought between conference finals appearances for D.C.’s four major professional sports teams with Monday night’s series-clinching win against the Penguins. That automatically qualifies Washington’s 2-1 overtime triumph as one of the biggest wins in D.C. sports over the last two decades.”

• Alex Kirshner, SB Nation: “The Caps’ last series win in this rivalry was in 1994. Losses followed in ‘95, ‘96, 2000, and ‘01, then again in a new era in ‘09, ‘16, and ‘17. Only the three most recent had anything to do with the players on the ice on Monday, and maybe it’s silly to even bring them up.

• But for Capitals fans, all of these losses to Pittsburgh have stung harshly. All five of the Penguins’ Cup wins — and the three in the last decade — have come after going through Washington, usually in the dramatic fashion the Capitals used on Monday.”

• Kevin Allen, USA Today: “Everyone was talking about the Vegas Golden Knights, Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Winnipeg Jets and Pittsburgh Penguins. Few were talking about the Capitals. Perhaps that also added another layer of motivation. When people stop talking about you, it’s time to elevate your game.”

• Greg Wyshynski, ESPN: “The Capitals had lost in consecutive seasons to the Penguins, both times in the Eastern Conference semifinals and both times watching Pittsburgh go on to win the Stanley Cup. This wasn't simply a historic win for the Capitals in the Ovechkin Era, but an emotionally charged comeuppance against their archrivals.”

• Michael Blinn, Sports Illustrated: “With the goal, the Capitals advance past the second round for the first time since a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1998, and for the first time in (Capitals star Alex) Ovechkin’s career. In its 44-year existence as an NHL franchise, Washington has yet to win the whole thing.”

Photo of Alex Ovechkin and Evegeni Malkin via Getty Images.

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